I mean, if this was such a major problem then wouldn't they be pushing harder for it no matter what the impression is? But no, apparently their so afraid of what a backlash would do their just going to let an alleged crime go unpunished. Doesn't sound like the republican party we've come to know and hate for the past eight years does it? The only logical explaination is that it was never a major problem in the first place and they knew it. Of course the fact that their fear campaign against illegals has actually caused tighter crackdowns kinda takes a lot of the punch out their justifications for it in the first place, doesn't it?

The issue is all about Hispanic voters, who are along with blacks the primary target of actual "voter fraud" efforts as they're implemented on the ground (irrespective of what the particular laws may say).

"Voter fraud" is a trolling concern that serves as a delivery mechanism for ethnic and racial voter suppression. The GOP knows it needs as much Hispanic crossover as it can get this year, so they're suspending their usual rotten, bigoted efforts.

Hopefully nobody will be fooled.

Very true. There is, however, plenty of evidence of significant vote fraud -- as in unaccountable electronic voting machines, manufactured by companies run by known associates of top Republican party officials, which return suspiciously pro-Republican results. It's a pity the Democrats seem to have decided this serious problem isn't worth talking about.

Reading it for the first time I interpreted it as Republicans deciding not to commit fraud against the voters, but I guess that's really the same thing.

And "Bud Cummins" is an obviously fake name.

The usual rash of dirty tricks, lies, and inuendo is the hallmark of the Republicans.

It has already started.

I have been getting anti-Obama emails featuring distortions, lies, and doctored photos (such as the one showing Obama holding a telephone handset upside-down).

Perhaps this is meant to be funny, but I doubt it.

It's a sure thing that Republicans will suppress the vote with purported anti-fraud campaigns, and it's a sure thing that McCain's fingerprints were never going to be found on such campaigns.

It will all happen under the radar.

I always expect the opposite of what these people say.

The republicans know this election is not going to be close enough for their shenanigans to work. It has to be very close, otherwise they won't be able to suppress enough democrats to create a different outcome. If they tried it on too large a scale, they would be discovered and they wouldn't be able to use these methods in the future. They are smart enough to know that they are going to lose this year, no matter what, so don't risk the dirtiest tricks. They might try it this time to protect some Senate seats, to avoid a Democratic Super Majority.

we get rid of electronic voting machines, which leave no f***ing paper trail whatsoever!?

Then we can at least be sure that the votes are accurate.

It's not about the CASTING of the votes, it's about the COUNTING of the votes.

As long as Diebold machines are involved in elections anywhere there will be vote switching and voter fraud on the part of the Repuglicans.

This won't be the first election that they have stolen. Don't believe it?

Check out blackboxvoting.org

As Josef Stalin so succinctly put it. "It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes".

"The Democrats will unfortunately try to bring race into play when this discussion happens, as they do every cycle. It's unfortunate because illegally cast votes disenfranchise real voters by potentially canceling out their votes."

Short form: "When we engage in voter suppression based on racial profiling, the Democrats have the poor taste to point it out".

This is the same as calling complaints about how the Republicans are screwing the poor and the middle class "class warfare".

they've now perfected their crooked machines?

Cummins was one of the USA's that got canned "at the President's leisure..."

This is a tell: like when someone says it's not about X, it most assuredly is.

I've posted comments on this issue before, but turnout even in 2004 was not much over 50% nationally, if I remember correctly, and it was considered to be heavy. Is it really credible that there are any significant number of people voting more than once, or people who are not lawfully entitled to vote (because they are not registered or are not citizens or whatever) when barely 50% of registered voters can be bothered to show up?

It always seems to me that this very simple question ought to completely demolish this ridiculous claim. But I never see anyone else raise this point. Am I missing something?

That won't make any difference. Republicans will still run voter surpression campaigns against African Americans and Hispanics, no matter what the outcome.

They can't help it.

Dirty tactics and surpressing non-whites, non-Christians is what Republicans do. It's what they stand for. It's what they are.